Subject(s)
Helicobacter Infections/pathology , Helicobacter pylori/pathogenicity , Saimiri/microbiology , Animals , Blotting, Western , Disease Models, Animal , Epithelial Cells/ultrastructure , Female , Gastric Mucosa/microbiology , Gastric Mucosa/pathology , Gastritis/microbiology , Gastritis/pathology , Helicobacter Infections/microbiology , Helicobacter pylori/isolation & purification , Helicobacter pylori/ultrastructure , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , Organelles/microbiology , Organelles/ultrastructureABSTRACT
Groups of squirrel monkeys (Saimiri spp.), predetermined to be free of Helicobacter infections in the gastric mucosa, were immunized orally with 0.5-4.5 mg of Helicobacter pylori recombinant urease (rUrease) and 25-500 micrograms of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) adjuvant. Oral immunization with rUrease resulted in a markedly elevated serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody response with peak levels at 45 days after immunization. No significant gastric inflammation or cytotoxicity was evident in rUrease immunized monkeys as determined by light and electron microscopy. Twenty-five micrograms of LT was a sufficient and safe adjuvant dosage, whereas higher dosages resulted in diarrhea and lethargy. Animals developed a serum IgG antibody response to LT that did not impede the production of anti-rUrease antibody levels. The results of this investigation indicate that rUrease is immunogenic in a nonhuman primate.
